In an unusual attempt at addressing one of its most vexing problems, the city of Chicago is asking residents with ideas on how to get illegal guns off the streets to share their thoughts – in 140 characters or fewer on Twitter.

The initiative is part of Chicago Ideas Week, an annual forum for innovators, artists, scientists and others to share ideas, make connections and inspire action. Those who think they know how to cut off the flow of illegal guns coming into Chicago are being asked to tweet them with the hashtag #whatifchicago. The best ideas will be debated at an Oct. 11 panel discussion during Ideas Week that will include police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

The head of Chicago’s Police Department and Mayor Rahm Emanuel have made combating gun violence in the nation’s third largest city a top priority, and are fighting gangs with a strategy that includes deploying beat officers to trouble spots for longer periods. The city is also paying an anti-violence group called CeaseFire $1 million to mediate conflicts in neighborhoods beset by gangs.

Still, homicides, the vast majority of them involving guns, are up sharply from 2011. According to the most recent police statistics, 382 people have been killed as of the middle of September, an increase of 26 percent from last year. Many of the victims are teens.